Bullying. No Way!

National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence

On Friday 18th March 2022, VUSC participated in the National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence (NDA). The NDA is Australia’s key bullying prevention initiative, connecting schools and communities to find workable solutions to prevent bullying.

Our SRC students across the college have been amazing in the last few weeks running meetings and organising activities for students for the day. The Wellbeing Team also lead activities and shared information with students regarding what to do and who to approach if they experience bullying. Students wrote positive message to others to help spread positivity across our school. Students also spent time in their home groups learning about the impact of bullying and the role we all play in eradicating it from our community.

Congratulations and thank you to all the students and staff who were involved in organising and running a very successful day at each campus!

At the Junior Campus we had an interesting presentation from Ryan Fede. Ryan is from the Alannah and Madeline Foundation and one of the roles of this foundation is to support students at schools experiencing bullying. He gave us many interesting facts and ideas to think about.

At lunchtime students wrote a positive affirmation on a heart and pasted it onto our large Positive Affirmation Posters. These were completely filled in with great colour and positive messages. Students also wrote on the courtyard grounds with chalk, bought home made cupcakes, guessed the lollies in the jar, played board games and listened to uplifting music.

We raised $560 for the Alannah and Madeline Foundation through our Out of Uniform donations and our lunchtime activities. Hopefully next year we will be able to have another presentation as well as activities that our Student Representative Council members can organise to encourage us all to get to know each other better in a fun atmosphere.

Below are some student comments about the day –

Darleena LUNG

Jeylan and I both liked how there was music in the courtyard at lunchtime and the chalk writing activity. It spread a lot of positivity and quite a lot people joined the activity.

Minh NGUYEN

What I liked about anti bullying day was there was a huge amount of participation from the students as my affirmation wall was full of positive notes, the cupcake stall ran out of cupcakes before the half bell and that this day wasn't just a day to come in with casual clothes on but also a reflection and celebration of how well we have done to prevent bullying.

Anna HA

What I liked about anti bullying day was that we were able to check in with other students to see if they are ok and the presentation that we had at the assembly. I also loved the cupcakes!

Jayda PHAN

What I liked about anti bullying day was about how everyone contributed to make awesome activities for everyone to enjoy. There was lots of music, colour and positive messages for everyone near the canteen area. Overall, it was a really fun day.

Zoya IMRAN

I really enjoyed how our whole school came together and celebrated Anti bullying day and seeing everyone at the canteen courtyard having fun meant a lot. I also liked how the SRC members were so involved with the day and all contributed somehow. The amount of positive notes on the affirmation wall were really encouraging and kind. And the cupcakes were AWESOME!

Paige ALBURY

I loved the amount of people that participated in all of the activities that were on offer. Outside the canteen area was full of colour! There was an outstanding amount of positivity on our affirmation posters, and heaps of guesses for our lolly jars! Seeing all the support and gratitude was amazing!

Kimba LEWIS

I loved the interaction that each student had with our activities. The contribution to the affirmation wall was awesome, and the cupcakes were gone before the half bell even went! Everyone seemed to be very interested in what we had put together, and we had some awesome feedback from both teachers and students. It was awesome to see that people not only enjoyed what we were doing but understood why we were doing it. I really enjoyed the day and I know that everyone else did too!!!

Olivia KATOANGA

I really enjoyed everyone’s participation in the activities and participation in the out of school uniform dress-up. I also liked how everyone expressed themselves through their outfits. And the many creative and thoughtful messages on the affirmation wall. I really hope you enjoyed it, and I can't wait for next year’s anti-bullying day.

Jasey CHU PHAM

Anti-Bullying day was a great success for both the SRC team and the students. Nothing but kindness and positivity was spread, it was great to see how the students acknowledged this day. Students were able to understand the meaning behind anti-bullying day whilst still being able to have fun through the activities we had set up.

Thank you to our school community for your support!

Erin Austin, Kimba Lewis, Paige Albury, Jasey Pham and

Ms Wooles (SRC Coordinator/Junior Campus)

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The theme for the 2022 NDA is Kindness Culture. We will demonstrate Kindness Culture by promoting inclusiveness, respect and community belonging for all students.

Eradicating bullying is important to our college not just on this important day, but every day. Planning for a safe and supportive school community requires a whole-school community approach. Whole-school responses to bullying prevention build positive and supportive school environments by incorporating strategies for intervention at all levels, inclusive of students, teachers, parents and carers.

Three key characteristics outlined in the national definition of bullying distinguish bullying behaviours from other forms of peer aggression behaviours which do not constitute bullying. The key characteristics of bullying include:

power imbalance
deliberate intent to cause harm, and
ongoing and repeated behaviour.

While the following behaviours of peer aggression do not constitute bullying, these behaviours may still be serious and require intervention at home and at school:

arguments and disagreements (where there is no power imbalance)
single acts of social rejection or meanness, or
isolated incidents of aggression, intimidation or violence.

It is important for our entire school community, including our staff, parents, carers and students to have a clear understanding of the definition of bullying to be able to distinguish these behaviours from peer aggression, and correctly identify and respond to incidents of bullying.

Knowing the types of bullying behaviour can also help you identify if the incident is bullying, or peer aggression. While neither of these behaviours are tolerated at Victoria University Secondary College they do require different management strategies and the first step for responding is to correctly identify the behaviour.

If you have concerns that your child is being bullied, please contact the Year Level Coordinator in the first instance.

For more information, please visit the Bullying No Way! website for additional resources.